Three hundred fifty more seniors to get food through Great Plates Delivered starting June 1
Kenny Chu is the owner of Viet Ha, one of the restaurants cooking for Great Plates Delivered
Three hundred and fifty additional seniors will have food delivered to their homes starting Monday, June 1 through the City’s Great Plates Delivered program, bringing the total number of seniors getting three free meals a day to roughly 1,100
An additional 14 restaurants will also begin preparing and packaging meals for delivery by Paratransit buses and volunteers. That brings the total number of Sacramento restaurants benefiting from the program to 44. Restaurants receive $60 in reimbursement for each box with breakfast, lunch and dinner that they prepare.
Because Great Plates Delivered has a lengthy waiting list, only a portion of the additional people who have applied to participate will start getting food Monday. They will be notified by phone on Sunday or Monday. If you do not receive a phone call, it means you are still on the waiting list.
The emergency program, designed to help vulnerable seniors forced into isolation by the coronavirus pandemic, is currently scheduled to end June 10.
Great Plates Delivered has provided a lifeline for seniors and businesses with little cost to the City. Seventy five percent of the funding comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while the state of California contributes 18.75 percent. The City is required to provide a 6.25 percent local match, but it could wind up costing nothing because volunteer hours and the in-kind contribution of Paratransit buses can be used to fulfill this requirement. Volunteer visits to seniors double as de facto wellness checks.
Restaurants and seniors aren’t the only ones who benefit. Farmers who sell produce to the restaurants have also received a boost. Even the cardboard packaging for the meals comes from a local company, WCP Solutions, which is located in the River District.
